Finding childcare - freaking out !

I'm sure all parents experience this, but I'm freaking out a bit about childcare. I know it's the best option all round for our family, just nervous about it!

The thing that us really freaking me out us finding childcare in the first place! LO is 6 months and we will need childcare in 4 months , but I go back to work in a month and dad takes over (so was trying to get it sorted now). Am top if the list with two childminders but they don't know if will have space. I am also increasingly of view that a nanny would work best, interviewed one last week who seemed great, asked for references and if there was anyone else we could interview just for comparison, but now her current family have decided they want her to stay, so feeling quite disheartened !

Am I looking to early? Is gumtree a good idea or should I stick with agencies? (We're in SE London) Any reassurance that we will find someone much appreciated!!

Hi Bee, we are in SE London too and we are wanting a childminder for six months from now. Almost everyone who was responded has said it is much too early, and to contact them two months before. A local friend is going back soon and said that spaces do cone up around two months in advance- she has been unsuccessfully looking for a few months, but just secured someone for the start of Jan.

I think for childminders you are looking a bit on the early side. The ones that have spaces now may not want to take you on as 4 months is a long time to hold a space open with no income and the others are unlikely to know 4 months in advance that a child will be leaving. September is a bit different as it is predictable which children will be going to school but at other times of the year places tend to come up randomly, often with little notice. The longest gap I have ever had between signing contracts and a mum returning to work was 3 months, but usually it is more like 4-8 weeks, and sometimes as little as a week or two.